Re Orso

Favola per Musica

A legend by the most famous of Verdi's librettists, Re Orso by Arrigo Boito has captured the attention of Marco Stroppa for several years.

A political satire, a fable about power, through lyric verse Re Orso tells the story of a horrible king, Ours, who reigned over Crete before the year 1000. Ours was afraid, above all, of the presence of an earthworm. A solo musician personifies each character of this court and the writing lies in the rhythmic characteristics of the Italian language and the technology of OM Chant. Opera with numbers, with litanies, confessions and orgies, with a disklavier singer and solos of bravery stylizing the rhythms of dance, Re Orso is reminiscent of the rapidity of Verdi's Falstaff. During the second act, the opera becomes purely electronic music, where the meticulous work of the projection of sound in the concert hall becomes a part of the spirit of an opera bouffe.

Marco Stroppa, Re Orso

Commissioned by the Opéra Comique, the La Monnaie De Munt (Brussels), the Ensemble intercontemporain, IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Françoise and Jean-Philippe Billarant, and the French government, premiere